


Amiss and Alight

by garbagebear (paranoidparsnip)



Series: TG drabbles [3]
Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Gen, Hide is a jewel and a sunflower and a really good dude, Hide would take Kaneki's impromptu surgery and near death really hard, Hospitalization, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-17 03:38:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4650822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paranoidparsnip/pseuds/garbagebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! (Sorry if there's any typos, running on about 3 hours of sleep myself, lmao)</p></blockquote>





	Amiss and Alight

He had stopped at the red light, like an obedient citizen, and scanned through songs on his mp3 player. Distracted by trying to find the perfect song to peddle home to on his bike, he didn’t hear the ambulance wailing up the street ahead of him. It was the motion that caught his eyes, the blur of frantic lights hastening past. Hide blinked in surprise and frowned, the sudden burst of loud sirens finally had made its way into his ears, past the music and headphones. Unpleasant but probably better than whoever needed the emergency treatment, he thought.

“Wonder if his date is over yet.” He grumbled to himself as the light changed.

He knew it was unreasonable, but it would have been great if his friend had given him updates on how his first official date was going. Of all the people to have hit it big, Kaneki had found someone who shared his weird love of books and was actually interested in him. He didn’t expect minute by minute reports on this girls movements – but judging from the lack of reply all together, it either had to have gone very poorly or _very_ successfully.

Unable to keep a grin off his face, Hide was still in a state of disbelief that someone as pretty as that had gone for Kaneki. Not to his best friend's discredit, but he wasn’t a very conventionally striking or attractive person, rather average in most regards. The saying of ‘don’t judge a book by the cover’ was hilariously fitting in this sense. Though his obsession with reading would put a librarian to sleep, he was a good person. Well-meaning to a fault, honest, and while sometimes he’d be a bit of a stick in the mud, Kaneki tried really hard to be kind.

He shook his head in silent humor, jeez, that idiot’s habit of over-explaining things seemed to be rubbing off on him. In a cheerful mood, Hide bustled home, looking forward to flopping on the couch and catching a few episodes of crap TV.

* * *

Groaning, Hide stretched after having fallen asleep on his sofa. Luckily for him it was still early enough that he could pack his backpack and get ready for class. Yet his first priority was the hastily discarded phone that he had dropped on the floor as he fell asleep yesterday.

 

_\--Good morning not so delusional Kaneki! How’d it go ?_

 

_\--Oooo that good huh ;) ?_

_\--Just because you went on a date doesn’t mean you can skip classes !_

_\--Kaneki answer your messages are you coming to class ?_

__\--_ Yoooo Kaneki answer meeeeee _

 

_\--I can bring food over if it went that bad_

 

 

 

_\--is everything okay ?_

* * *

 

When his phone rang, he answered it with a bemused smile, expecting an apologetic voice either elaborating for too long on how wonderful everything was or how the date hadn't gone well. It was going to be rough if things had gone poorly, since Kaneki so rarely was vocal about things, especially concerning those dastardly _emotions._

Hide's spirits fell a little when he realized it wasn't his friend's number, but he answered it anyway, putting his disappointment to the side.

"Heellloooo, Nagachika speaking. Can I ask who's calling?"

He listened for a few moments to the overly calm woman on the other end of the line, the weight of unease growing with each second. After spacing out in disbelief, the use of a few key words such as 'emergency operation', 'critical condition', and 'ICU' brought him back to a staggering reality. Shock struck him like a fist to the gut while flares of panic soared overhead. Why he hadn't answered his messages, why he hadn't called, it all made sense in the most sickeningly simple way. In a sterile, yet pleasant voice, the woman sensed the bombarding wave of questions and stifled them. Due to Kaneki being in ICU and still under close observation, he was not allowed to have visitors while being in a fragile state. She assured him, that as soon as he was in stable condition and the possible risk of danger from outside exposure had been minimized, that Hide was more than welcome. There was a cardboard sounding 'have a good day' and a click.

Frozen, Hide stood in his living room, shoes half on and keys in hand. He didn't know what to do. He didn't understand what he was supposed to do. It seemed surreal and dreamlike, but not a good dream, not even a boring outline of a dream. It was horrifying and all the emotions that embodied wrong with barbed meanings. His best friend had nearly died.

More than that, he was still in dire condition and there was nothing that Nagachika Hideyoshi had control over. Of the numerous times where his intuition might have wavered, it had to be this. Why, why, why did it have to be this? Hide ran a clammy hand through his mop of orange-yellow hair and realized as the room around him wobbled a little, that he was hyperventilating. Tugging at the core of thoughts was the urge to storm up there and demand to see with his own two eyes that Kaneki was okay. But they would kick him out and then he'd have to wait even longer to see the familiar grey eyes lighting up.

But what if he _wasn't_ okay? Could he handle having to see him lying motionless, connected by wires and tubes to an infernal machine that he both hated and worshiped for keeping Kaneki there? In his mind an image of an ashen, blood-flecked body bent into unnatural shapes on a hospital bed caused tears to spring up of their own volition.

He didn't even know what had happened! Did he get mugged or hit by a car or, oh god, what if he did something dangerous? No one had told him anything other than what was going on at the hospital. No one told him how Kaneki got there in the first place. Fuck, how long was he in pain before someone called the ambulance? What if they hadn't noticed him and didn't call in time and -

Out of helpless frustration, Hide kicked the wooden table beside his couch. It gave a satisfying crack as some part of the structure crinkled under the force. Using the heel of his palm Hide ground into his eyes to staunch the brimming water from escaping, there was no helping the straggling gasp that followed. The sob caught in his throat only emerged as a faint whine. They would call him, right? The hospital would call him if something changed? They had to, they had to. He was on Kaneki's contact list in case of emergency because he didn't have anyone else.

Defeated, the shaking figure sat down hard on the couch. Guilt wrapped its icy tendrils around the frantically beating heart and whispered accusations to the grieved boy. That instinct to protect Kaneki had only gotten stronger as they both matured, so why couldn't he have stopped him or delayed him from going on that excursion? He didn't have anyone else left that cared for him, after all, Hide was supposed to keep an eye on him and keep him safe.

Hide was determined to call the hospital back at the turn of every hour, just to see if there were any changes. Lecture classes had been pushed to the back burner until the facility would let him visit his best friend. Life is infinitely more important than some college courses. An itch similar to hunger burned in him to see Kaneki and make sure he was going to be alright. Panic is such an exhausting emotion, for now it had peaked and declined he felt so damn tired, like he had ran a marathon uphill.

* * *

 

The door opened silently, swinging on quiet hinges inward. Light from the window beside the bed cast illuminated squares that draped over the features he knew so well. The shadows settled in cheeks a little too gaunt, eye sockets a little too hollow, and around the apparatus strapped over his mouth. Constant rhythmic beeping was as hateful as it was comforting. Though he had not awakened yet, the nurse that was trying to be supportive told him that she expected him to be up and at it in a day or less.

Distant, spiteful family aside, he didn't have anyone else besides Hide and he didn't make friends easily. By preferring to stay in his own sphere of books and school, isolating himself both intentionally and by accident. Without Hide, he very likely would have gone days to weeks without having a decent conversation. He wasn't sure since when, if there was an actual date and time or if it had just merged into the years they spent together, but somehow he had become the only person in Kaneki's life.

Hide knew this and accepted with it no hesitation, he would take it a thousand times over to keep Kaneki from being alone. The kid seemed to get hit with the sharp end of fate every single time. Half wishing the digital beeping was his instead, he turned his phone over, feeling the scratched plastic frame. He clicked the power button to see how much time had passed. It had been twenty three minutes.

"Kaneki, just how long are you planning on taking a nap? You slacker." He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Lucky you, not all of us can take a two day snooze fest. I haven't been getting enough sleep. Blaming you for that one, man."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! (Sorry if there's any typos, running on about 3 hours of sleep myself, lmao)


End file.
